When it comes to making sure that the inside of your garage is protected from the threat of flooding caused by heavy rains or other related disasters, doing such garage waterproofing yourself isn’t really that far-fetched an idea. The money saved is obviously the largest component of such thinking, but time spent performing the necessary tasks really won’t be a prohibitive drain on the pace of your everyday life.
Drainage Adjustments
In some cases, the slope of a yard can lead to excessive amounts of water that head toward a garage, which can lead to flooding. A simple way to divert the water from the garage area is to install a French (or trench) drain, where some minor re-grading will keep that potentially damaging water away from ever reaching the garage.
Depending on the skills of the individual doing the DIY work, the drain can be decorative in nature or serviceable if simply addressing the issue of garage waterproofing is what’s desired.
Inspecting Walls and Floors
In some cases, residential garage doors have weathered years or even decades of Texas weather, which means scorching suns, high winds and some torrential downpours. After a while, the residual effect can make a garage more vulnerable to flooding. In the case of the garage floor, cracks or holes may have developed over the years.
By painting the garage and using waterproof paint to do it, any potential threat can be limited or even eliminated. The paint should applied evenly across the entire garage to ensure that every portion of the garage is covered before then repeating the process.
When it comes to the floor, the entire garage should be swept before then scrubbing it with some solution to remove the inevitable dirt and oil that are part of all garages. Generally, the cost of such a solution is minimal, since it can be created from half water and half bleach.
Once that’s done, waterproof paint should either be applied or the cracks should be fixed with an application of epoxy that’s also waterproof. That should take care of virtually any situation and do so in a price-friendly way.
Garage Door Seals
One specific area that doesn’t take a great deal of time is the garage door seal, which is located on the bottom of residential garage doors. It’s rubber in nature, but only provides a small amount of protection when it comes to water because of its thin appearance. Once that area’s been compromised, flooding will follow if the rains or surges are hard enough.
This can be avoided with the installation of a threshold strip that begins with removing debris that may have collected in the area of the garage door between the two tracks through the use of a simple wire brush. Not removing the particles and other material could end up damaging the effectiveness of the threshold. Once that’s been completed, some quick and vigorous sweeping to completely remove the collected debris from the area is all that’s needed
Next, using a tape measure to gauge the width of the floor threshold will help when it comes time to slice the threshold piece with a simple utility knife. Once that’s done, the threshold should be placed right where the garage door comes down, with chalk lines on each side.
That’s followed by placing beads of heavy-duty adhesive on each side of the inside edge of the threshold, which leads to the threshold piece on top of the beads The adhesive should be spread evenly enough to make sure that the piece will stay firmly in place and cover both sides. From there, a wait of 24 hours should be sufficient to let it completely dry, making it ready for use.
The Easy Way to Go
Of course, there are some who just don’t have the time to be able to tackle a garage waterproofing project on their own. That’s why the professionals at Texas Overhead Door can take care of any situation involving residential garage doors as well as those pertaining to commercial businesses. We’re now in our 30th year of operation, so we’ve dealt with every aspect regarding how to handle such things. So if DIY isn’t something you want to tackle, Texas Overhead offers an easy next step.
